W.A. DE VIGIER STIFTUNG

Encouragement of Swiss start-ups

Since foundation in 1987 the W.A. de Vigier Foundation supports young entrepreneurs with innovative business ideas. Jury statement as on www.devigier.ch:

“W.A. de Vigier Preis für stromunabhängige Displays
Ein leuchtendes Beispiel für Innovation
-
Auszug aus der W.A. de Vigier Pressemitteilung:
Jonas Burki aus Olten hat die Sonne auf seiner Seite. Für seine innovativen SUN_D Leuchtanzeigen bündelt der Solothurner das natürliche Licht des Himmelskörpers und nutzt es für die visuelle Darstellung von Bildern und Texten. Die Wirkung ist erstaunlich: Burkis nachhaltige Sonnen-Displays, die im Gegensatz zu LED-Bildschirmen oder Plasma Screens fast ohne Strom leuchten, erscheinen als strahlend neues Medium, das Informationstechnologie und Raumgestaltung ästhetisch und künstlerisch verbindet.”

Ars Electronica [next idea]
 2007

Art & Technology Grant

SUN_D In 2007 SUN-D was awarded with Art and Technology Grant [THE NEXT IDEA] of the internationally famous Ars Electronica (AUT). The grant facilitated the collaboration with AEC Futurelab – a renowned research and development lab in the field of electronic art and design. Here’s the Ars Electronica jury statement:

“[the next idea] art and technology grant 2007 goes to a Swiss project, Jonas Burki’s SUN_D. Together with fellow students Raphael Faeh and Adrian Keller at the HyperWerk Institute of the University of Applied Sciences in north-western Switzerland, he explored a variety of models for displays based on sunlight. For his optomechanical constructions, Jonas Burki uses familiar materials and methods that enable viewers to grasp how these displays function. Hence, the project’s ingenuity was not seen in how it develops or uses complicated technologies, but in how it intelligently combines simple physical phenomena with mechanical approaches to solving a problem. Sunlight is normally the natural enemy of displays that work with some sort of illuminant. SUN_D exploits this inherent weakness and, in keeping with its basic concept, explores potential uses of this free and inexhaustible light source. The project’s objective to use “(sun)light and shade as a medium of expression” carries on a tradition that goes far back into (art) history; this gives the proposal an even greater, and for the jury, irresistible charm. Jonas Burki proposes three different ways to convert sunlight into pixel matrixes: In the “Plexi pixel” approach, sunlight illuminates a series of Plexiglas tubes; via a mechanical system, it is possible to control whether sections of the pipes are covered, in other words darkened, or not. All three of these approaches use materials and combine technologies in a way that is extraordinarily compelling. The solutions proposed were extremely well thought out and seemed to demand implementation. The jury was also struck by another remarkably positive aspect of the project: the clarity with which it articulated its ideas for collaborating with the Ars Electronica Future Lab and for achieving the goals envisioned.”